11 Of The Highest Paid Comedians Who Laughed Their Way To The Top!

They started out by telling jokes and making people laugh from tiny stages. Their incredible humor and passion for the spotlight fueled their journey to the top!

From the small stage to TV, movies, talk shows and more! These 11 comedians laughed their way to the top and are now some of the most highest paid entertainers in the industry.

Ellen DeGeneres

There is no doubt Ellen is one of the most amazing people on the planet. She’s kind, loving and incredibly funny! She makes people smile daily on her popular ‘talk show – Ellen. She truly went from a small time comedian to a sitcom star, to the biggest talk show host in the history of television.

Ellen’s net worth is roughly $400 million! Not bad for a once small time comedian.

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Steve Harvey

Once homeless and living out of his car, Harvey caught his big break as an MC on Showtime at the Apollo in the 80’s.

From that point on, doors just kept on opening for the big time funny man!

Now, Steve is a movie star, TV and radio host, author of multiple self-help books, five-time Emmy winner, owner of a production company, and a co-founder of a non-profit organization.

His net worth is estimated at over $100 million.

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Jimmy Fallon

From the Saturday Night Live stage to his own talk show ‘Late Night With Jimmy Fallon’ – Fallon is simply one of the funniest humans ever!

Once a college drop out making under $8 an hour, Fallon now rakes in over $16 million per year.

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Jeff Dunham

Jeff Dunham is nearly a household name at this point in life.

The hilarious ventriloquist is reportedly America’s top-grossing stand-up act, and it’s been that way for a number of years.

Dunham travels the world performing and making people laugh in hysterics. It’s not a bad gig, considering in 2017 Dunham raked in $15,500,000!

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Terry Fator

Terry, a ventriloquist, made a name for himself when he was the winner of season two of America’s Got Talent.

In addition to the one million dollar prize he received, winning the show helped him book a $100 million five-year residency contract at The Mirage in Las Vegas.

Now a days, there’s no doubt Terry is sleeping on piles of cash…he’s still raking in over $18 million per year! WOW!

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Jim Gaffigan

Jim is a multi millionaire due to his success from his Grammy-nominated comedy specials, including Mr. Universe, Cinco, and Obsessed.

He also starred in a TV series based on his life called The Jim Gaffigan Show, and published two books, Food: A Love Story (2014) and a memoir titled Dad is Fat (2013).

Now, Jim is raking in over $30.5 extra million from his new Netflix special ‘Cinco’

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Kevin Hart

Kevin went from small comedy clubs to selling out the biggest comedy performance ever with over 60,000 people in attendance.

Kevin reportedly rakes in over $32.5 million per year, touring and starring in major motion pictures like ‘Jumanji’.

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Amy Schumer

Her rise to fame came after her 2015 comedy special, Amy Schumer: Live at the Apollo aired.

That opened the floodgates for movie offers, TV show offers and even a spot on Broadway next to Steve Martin in ‘Meteor Shower’.

Schumer is worth over $35 million!

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Dave Chappelle

Dave Chappelle was once one of the most popular comedians on the planet. Then he disappeared.

Chappelle gave up over $50 million when he walked away from his hit show on Comedy Central ‘The Chappelle Show’.

Now, 12-years later he’s back and with his recent 3-special deal with Netflix, Chappelle is raking in the cash! Netlix paid Chappelle over $60 million for three Netflix comedy specials.

The specials are reportedly the most watched comedy specials ever, on Netflix.

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Chris Rock

Chris Rock has been a legend in the comedy world since the 80’s. From super successful stand up specials to movies and TV, Rock is one of the biggest funny men to ever walk the planet!

In 2017 alone, Rock made over $58 million!

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Jerry Seinfeld

There has never been a better success story other than that of Jerry Seinfeld.

Seinfeld truly started his career by grinding it out in small comedy clubs. In the 90’s, he co-created the hit comedy show ‘Seinfeld’ and after a few years, because the first ever TV start to earn over $1 million per episode.

Now, Seinfeld still makes big bucks! With a series of side projects as well as incredibly royalties from Seinfeld, he’s reportedly bringing in a whopping $69 million per year!